2014 chevy cruz diesel

[jeff9366]

yeah, me too. hats off to general motors for adding a diesel engine option to the cruze. here's hoping this engine migrates into other gm offerings.

I'm old. I remember the gas engines converted to diesel, shamelessly sold by Oldsmobile.

I know it was the "old" GM but consumers really took a pounding on those Olds.....and GM did nothing for the buyers but discontinue the engine and later discontinue Oldsmobile.

I'm SHOW ME SOME HISTORY with diesel car engines and GM.

 

[3930dave]

I'm old. I remember the gas engines converted to diesel, shamelessly sold by Oldsmobile.

I know it was the "old" GM but consumers really took a pounding on those Olds.....and GM did nothing for the buyers but discontinue the engine and later discontinue Oldsmobile.

I'm SHOW ME SOME HISTORY with diesel car engines and GM.

I'm from the same vintage as you, point taken.

Today, I'd be taking a really close look at the fine print on any post emissions diesel. I was reviewing the Owner's Manual for a 4 year old Mercedes diesel car for a friend. I was rather shocked to see that the Factory emission (parts) warranty only went up to 40k km. This was Canada, USA coverage may be different.

Benz makes a good diesel, not the issue.

The manufacturers have done a pretty good job of convincing the Canadian govt to allow them to roll back their emission coverage. Clean air is a good thing, as long as it is us peasants paying for it, not CorporateGovernment.

Fuel cost ratio is mostly a government construct. Canadian diesel is cheaper than gas, but both are above USA prices. Heavily taxing the more energy dense fuel (diesel) doesn't make much sense to me, but perhaps that revenue is needed for the ethanol subsidy.

Technically, for the most part, I've liked VW's diesel offerings over the years. And, as I've posted before, I think their business strategy is brilliant - in Canada and USA, they've virtually had the affordable diesel passenger car market to themselves for decades.

I really hope that we (Canada/USA) can scale up biodiesel production, and that it is "allowed" to come to market. Personally, I'd much prefer tax dollars going into getting this off the ground, than being poured into ethanol. Once major long term biodiesel production is established, that would go a long way towards producing true domestic energy security.

For when I'm not hauling 6,000# plus, I'd be one of the first guys in line to buy the global Ford Ranger diesel that we are being "protected" from currently. It would be the perfect runabout vehicle for my needs.

I hope:

1) GM is sincere about supporting diesels long term in Canada/USA. Meaning cars too, not just 1 tons.

2) I hope they do well financially with the Cruze diesel, as then it may open up the options for other car models.

3) That GM starts to offer stick diesels.

Rgds, D.

 

[jeff9366]

"Fuel cost ratio is mostly a government construct. Canadian diesel is cheaper than gas, but both are above USA prices. Heavily taxing the more energy dense fuel (diesel) doesn't make much sense to me, but perhaps that revenue is needed for the ethanol subsidy."

F U N N Y !

Humor is sometime is sometimes in short supply on T-B-N.

 

[dhagood]

I'm old. I remember the gas engines converted to diesel, shamelessly sold by Oldsmobile.

i'm about to turn 61. i remember those oldsmobile "diesels" very well, as well as the vega, the pinto, the x-cars, the k-cars, and a host of other automotive idiocies. one result from the parade of big 3 incompetence is that i never personally owned a big 3 vehicle until my wife and i took a chance on a first generation ford taurus wagon. while it was a comfortable car to drive, after about 75000 miles it became very expensive to operate. we bought one more new car, a volvo, and now only buy used vehicles.

accordingly, i bought a used gmc k1500 sierra because i couldn't find a toyota tundra in decent shape. the gmc has been a pretty decent vehicle, all in all, and if i decide to replace it i will consider another gm product. the duramax has done pretty well in my estimation, but i'd prefer a cummins diesel engine over the duramax or powerstroke.

 

[Peacock]

The Cruze Diesel gets 10+mpg better than the comparable gas model in the real world. It also is faster and more enjoyable to drive.

People never complain about return on investment when they go for the bigger, faster, thirstier engine. They do, however, find every excuse they can to complain about the cost of a diesel when it does much of the same, while delivering far superior fuel economy and resale value.

 

[3930dave]

When posting here recently, I was thinking about modern (as in GDI ) gasoline motors.

They are relatively new to the market, but now have enough mileage on many that some of their quirks (requiring unScheduled Maintenance) are showing up.

I was over on BITOG, searching for something else, when I came across this:

GDI Engines - Bob Is The Oil Guy

As at least one other poster in this thread has alluded to (compare apples with apples, maintenance wise), "This ain't your Father's MPI anymore....."

I do like many technical advancements, but not when my wallet is used to shake out the medium-term reliability and performance issues....

(Edit - I haven't checked if the Cruze is GDI or not, that wasn't what I was getting at here.)

Rgds, D.

 

[Peacock]

Gas Cruze engines are port injected.

 

[3930dave]

Gas Cruze engines are port injected.

At this stage of the GDI market cycle, that is a selling point in my mind.

In addition, if they still have an inline (with the fuel line) Fuel Filter, they'd get 2 extra points from me.

Rgds, D.

 

[Peacock]

I'm real interested to see how the new Honda DI engines hold up. They stayed port injection for a long time in order to work out the oil dilution and EGR hurdles. They don't use EGR on the DI 4 cylinders at all, and the jury is out on the oil dilution. They are some torquey, fuel efficient little suckers though.

 

[RalphVa]

The TDI, in my mind, is VW's best engine. We rented a 2.5 gas one once to drive back from Columbus to Charlottesville after taking a rental truck over. Didn't like the 2.5 at all. Never driven the 2.0 liter turbo gas one, but it has no where near the torque.

The TDI goes up the WVa mountains as though they're not there. Maintains cruise control speed up every one in 6th gear. My Tacoma pickup required 3rd gear on two of those mountains and, of course, would not maintain cruise speed.

It's like driving a VW with 2 cylinder thirst. Absolutely love it.

I second the motion of one responder who wants to see a small pickup with a 2.0 liter turbo diesel in it. Our old 1996 Tacoma with a VW TDI in it would be a wonder performer and would yield 50 mpg, as it was only 3,000 # (250 less than a Jetta). (Have a sorry 2005 Tacoma now; it's the one that won't make it up those WVa mountains other than 3rd gear; the older Tacoma would squirt right up the mountains and still yield 30 mpg.)